Ever since I have been a little kid, Christmas periods are always exciting periods for me. This is in no part down to the hustling and bustling of the environment, the Christmas lights, the carols here and there, the chickens and of course the Christmas tree. So, here is an example of one I managed to get within my neighbour's crib...

Of course, we all know that the majority of the Christmas trees we see around here in Nigeria are synthetic. They are artificially made. After a closer look at the above, something interesting caught my attention when I was strolling by my neighbourhood, I first took a picture of it and moved-in for closer observation. Eureka! I just found the natural version of the synthetic Christmas tree above though at a relatively early stage of growth. Here it is....

Meet the natural Christmas tree

Upon investigation, I found out that the plant is a cultivar of Thuja occidentalis. It belongs to the Cupressaceae plant family in the order Pinnales, class Pinosida, division Coniferophyta and the super division Spermatophyta. Plants in the division Coniferophyta are generally referred to as conifers. Conifers are cone bearing, woody, seed plants.

However, what makes this particular cultivar interesting is that it grows as a medium sized shrub and produces no cones (at least, none that I know of). It is planted mostly for ornamental purpose and sold at a rather expensive price at various horticultural gardens in Nigeria. I want to believe it is a product of several breeding experiments between various species of Thuja. The time limitation for this contest will not permit me to visit the herbarium and do further investigation on the plant.

Special thanks to @mcw for organizing the contest and shout out to all those who supports it.

References

plants.usda.gov
britannica.com
dictionary.com